New Subscriber. When I am not working or practicing guitar I am watching TH-cam guitar videos. For some reason it has taken me awhile to stumble upon your channel? All I can say is amazing intros and great content! You have quickly become one of my favorite channels. Thanks John.
This is amazing. I’d been adding this into my pentatonic noodling after discovering that lovely sound when you slide up to the 7 and then play the 1 over the top. Sounds beautiful. This feels like it will be a breakthrough as it actually explains what I’ve figured out accidentally.
"I think people get the sense that maybe in my playing I'm doing more thinking than I really am.... I'm not actually thinking too much." Well, John, I really enjoy your thoughtlessness! More seriously: Exceptionally cool opening piece-really strong melodically. Thanks for this lesson; I wasn't aware of hexatonics, and seeing them as "major - avoid note" was ear-opening. -Tom
Outstanding. Yes, that too, was super helpful. This is exactly the kind of content I need. Thank you so much for giving us a window to your heart and mind. Your songs and solos are beautiful. Just beautiful. I would love to get your Helix patch for this session.
Great lesson. I really appreciate the minimal editing. It makes it feel like a real in person lesson. I wish more teachers took this approach. Thanks again
I feel connected with most of your content, thanks a lot for your lessons! These six note scale are awesome. I did work on some bebop scales, but I found them too much Jazz specific. Whereas six note scales can work on more musical contexts in my opinion, and you still get the symmetry thanks to the even number of notes ( Like in the Barry Harris approach), you get two triads, two distinct polarities, very intuitive to work with
You might enjoy Jerry Bergonzi's book "Inside Improvisation Series vol.7 Hexatonics"; published by Advance Music. Very thorough indeed. Cheers p.s. not a big fan of the "bebop scale" approach either....and Barry Harris' approach is preferable. :0)
The blues scale is hexatonic. The flat five adds the 6th note ) There's also the Hirojoshi? A Japanese one that has wide and close intervals and is also hexatonic. Vai and Satriani are Lydian fans where it has a sharpened 4th instead. The 4th degree of the major scale
I went 20+ years without knowing this scale until a couple years ago i saw a Rick Beato video explaining this scale ... it's been one of my go to scales ever since.
There is another way - to play a pentatonic (Major or relative minor), plus the same shape from the 5th *same way to avoid b6 in Aeolian Hexatonic you play is also a Triad pair - Maj Triad from the 5th + min Triad from the 6th(Relative minor) - that approach gives new,different sound to the scale
"In music and music theory, a hexatonic scale is a scale with six pitches or notes per octave. Famous examples include the whole-tone scale, C D E F♯ G♯ A♯ C; the augmented scale, C D♯ E G A♭ B C; the Prometheus scale, C D E F♯ A B♭ C; and the blues scale, C E♭ F G♭ G B♭ C. A hexatonic scale can also be formed by stacking perfect fifths. This results in a diatonic scale with one note removed (for example, A C D E F G)".
Hexatonic means 6 potential tonics and implies an octave divided into 6 equidistant notes similar to the 4 notes of a full diminished 7th being Quadratonic or the 3 notes of an augmented triad being 'Ambiguously TRITONIC'.
That’s fine, but I came here because I enjoy John’s vibe, his playing and sound nuances have emotive force, and his instruction is good and helpful. Thanks John!
It occurred to me while playing along with some Allman Brothers songs, that Dickey Betts was avoiding one note in his solos. It was a hunch, but I wasn't absolutely sure that I was correct. It's not that the fourth is exactly wrong, it just subtracts from the overall joyful upbeat feel of certain tunes. Didn't realize that it was an actual thing with a name, but this sheds much light on what I was hearing and trying to capture.
@@far1es For the most part, but I think he throws in some 4ths on the descending riff at the beginning and end. I'll test it out the next time I have my guitar in hand.
The Triad Pair approach made more sense to me when I saw their combined notes as a Hexatonic scale. Not sure why, but one of my earliest harmonic discovery was the natural IV scale degree over Major harmony - used as a tension/passing tone/appoggiatura - call it what you will. I suppose I'm in the minority, but it still sounds good to me.
tabs are wrong but it does not matter too much as it's just one Maj7th note to find on the top of the 5 other ones though (in the example a G#), i played that all the time not thinking hexa but thinking penta on maj7th arpeggios, then adding that maj7 is natural
I always think of this as Aeolian or min9 with the 9 and 4 of that scale being the juiciest notes as you point out. Which would be the 1 and 6 of the Dorian min6 scale... and Dorian is the best scale of course :0
Dicky Betts from the Allman Brothers would often play a hexagon scale. But he played a major hexagon scale. In the key of C he would be playing CDEFGAC skipping the B I understand that the tritone in the key C is the F to the B. This is the 4 to the 7. And I understand that you don’t want to have that 4 to 7 interval which causes that dissonant clash. So in major it seems like you don’t play the 7 which gives a very major or country sound. But if you’re playing a natural minor from the way, I see you are teaching, you do play the B and you don’t play the F. The B is the 2 or the 9 in the key of “A minor”so I can see how this hexagon scale could sound very smooth because it seems like the nine is always smooth. I think it’s very interesting. How when you use the major hexatonic scale, in this case C, you remove the B but then you shift to the A minor you keep the B and remove the F note . If you could comment on that, I’d be very interested
I've never really thought of it as a scale, but I have just gravitated towards it because the 4th degree just sounds so off sometimes. It is also easier for me to think of it as major scale with an avoid note than the pentatonic with an extra note. Not sure why...
Great topic and explanation of how you use the hexatonic scale. Thanks! For anyone looking for further resources on playing hexatonic scales (as there are many different types) there's a great book (w/CD) by Jerry Bergonzi. It is from his "Inside Improvisation Series (for all instruments)... Vol.7 Hexatonics. It's very thorough for those who are curious. Published by Advance Music. :0)
Very well explained. Enjoyable to watch as well beyond the details you shared. Curious what amp/pedal/patch, combination, etc you're running the P90s through? Whatever combination you're using sound's really great with the P90s. Thanks as always. Phil NYC Area
I was rearching this scale for a game project and this was the first video I found that referenced the 'hexatonic' scale. Is this the same as the 'whole tone' scale?
Just think of it as the note just right below your root. Its just a half step down from every root note you hit. Easier for me than trying to think of it as another scale pattern.
Question to anyone here? Stumbled on a guitarist out of Toronto Canada who’s teaching hexatonic scales in his course, his name is Roy Ziv. Does anyone use his course?
This is funny I was learning some Allman brothers stuff and Dicky Betts used the major pentatonic quite a bit and added the 4th to make a Hexatonic scale then you tell us to throw away the 4 😂. I get it, different situations and styles
In most (not all) contexts, when he plays the 4, the chord under it has probably changed from the I to the IV. The “avoid” note applies only to when playing over a particular chord.
What sort of reverb are you using? It creates such a full sound, even when you are only playing single notes, without ever being overpowering. Sounds amazing!
As a bassist I can tell you it works and very well. It definitely has its places for bass whether just running lines during verses and bridges or soloing. Just work out the positioning because some guitarists do use it in open tunings. The beauty of doing this is that you can experiment and open up many variations of Hexatonic.
The harmonic context dictates what note will clash or not, this scale will sound almost right on any major chord, but instead of removing the 4th try to raise it by one half tone and you get lydian mode which sounds great on a IV Maj7 chord. When one knows the modes and is able to anaylse a chord progression there is no need to use this kind of shortcut which in the end is more musically limiting than anything. I thought you were about to talk about the tone scale.
Yeh. And until you "know the modes" perhaps you'd use this kind of thing in your improvisation. The whole point is people ask me what I'm thinking. This is what I'm thinking.
Incidentally I get asked this stuff by people who know their theory and scales. When it comes to improvising, tons of theory, tons of analysis and having loads of options working through your head is just as "limiting". Also when it comes to the majority of music that isn't fusion guitar on TH-cam, Modal analysis doesn't really make any sense. Particularly in a progression like this which is entirely diatonic.
For many beginners, a lot of the joy in playing guitar comes from easy visualisable patterns (pentatonic, power chords, familiar open chords) that works really well with some style of music, but this is also the reason why a lot of guitarist get quickly to a plateau where progressing is getting harder and opening to other styles of music could be discouraging because they are limited in their vocabulary and harmony knowledge. It's great that you are able to reach a lot of guitarists and help them to break some barriers. It seems that you are doing more and more gear reviews. I prefer more the musical oriented content. The gear-hunting "game" can really kill or distract a lot from the creative part of what is playing guitar.
That Yamaha guitar sounds good and no doubt it plays well but I can't come at the look of it. It reminds me of Japanese styled cars in the 60's. (Sorry if I called your new girlfriend ugly).
With the Hexatonic scale, do you really have to know what the chord is as you solo in order to target the right note? Let's say you are 2/3 of the way into your improv and you lost track of what the chord is currently playing while you solo, can the hexatonic scale save you and help you to land on the correct note and not an "avoid note"? I know that if you happen to land on an avoid note, you can simply move 1 note down or up to land on the right note. I am wondering if the hexatonic scale can help you out while you solo without knowing what chord is currently playing underneath.
If you hit the avoid note (the 4th) and go up a semitone you hit b5 /tritone, which is an even bigger avoid note as it's not in the diatonic scale that the hexatonic is derived from. I prefer sticking (mainly) to the hexscale of the overall key rather than changing its key with each chord. As for your question - it certainly helps to know the notes of each chord or at least visualise the shape of whatever chord you're playing over & avoid lingering or landing on its 4th. The caged system is an easy way of seeing all the inversions of a certain chord up & down the neck. The extent to which you 'spell' / arpeggiate each chord (play the changes) as opposed to milking the penta or hex scale of the key center depends on the genre and is a matter of personal taste & expression. The former approach lends itself to the formal & sophisticated, the latter to freedom & spontaneity. Theory does not dictate what sounds cool - it's just a language to help decipher and describe what's happening (and, paradoxically, which notes to avoid! ; )
![One thing that EVERY Great Legato Player Has in Common [and a thing you NEED to practice]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3byF6CoERf0/mqdefault.jpg)
Finally a lesson that provides a good way to alter the scale in a way that's easier to memorize for improv.
Bro, the playthrough at the beginning was beautifully powerful 🙌
New Subscriber. When I am not working or practicing guitar I am watching TH-cam guitar videos. For some reason it has taken me awhile to stumble upon your channel? All I can say is amazing intros and great content! You have quickly become one of my favorite channels. Thanks John.
Welcome to “the enlightened”…..better late in this world than early in the next !
This is amazing. I’d been adding this into my pentatonic noodling after discovering that lovely sound when you slide up to the 7 and then play the 1 over the top. Sounds beautiful. This feels like it will be a breakthrough as it actually explains what I’ve figured out accidentally.
First new-to-me concept I've run across in a long time. Thank you so much!
"I think people get the sense that maybe in my playing I'm doing more thinking than I really am.... I'm not actually thinking too much." Well, John, I really enjoy your thoughtlessness! More seriously: Exceptionally cool opening piece-really strong melodically. Thanks for this lesson; I wasn't aware of hexatonics, and seeing them as "major - avoid note" was ear-opening. -Tom
Thanks!
The melody never ending to listen so beautiful❤
Everything about your playing is beautiful. Thanks for this.
That intro! I FEEL EVERY THING 😭😭😭
maybe u should propose
@@DBMusic2024 perhaps 🤔
Outstanding. Yes, that too, was super helpful. This is exactly the kind of content I need. Thank you so much for giving us a window to your heart and mind. Your songs and solos are beautiful. Just beautiful. I would love to get your Helix patch for this session.
Great lesson. I really appreciate the minimal editing. It makes it feel like a real in person lesson. I wish more teachers took this approach. Thanks again
I feel connected with most of your content, thanks a lot for your lessons! These six note scale are awesome. I did work on some bebop scales, but I found them too much Jazz specific. Whereas six note scales can work on more musical contexts in my opinion, and you still get the symmetry thanks to the even number of notes ( Like in the Barry Harris approach), you get two triads, two distinct polarities, very intuitive to work with
You might enjoy Jerry Bergonzi's book "Inside Improvisation Series vol.7 Hexatonics"; published by Advance Music. Very thorough indeed. Cheers p.s. not a big fan of the "bebop scale" approach either....and Barry Harris' approach is preferable. :0)
The blues scale is hexatonic. The flat five adds the 6th note )
There's also the Hirojoshi? A Japanese one that has wide and close intervals and is also hexatonic.
Vai and Satriani are Lydian fans where it has a sharpened 4th instead. The 4th degree of the major scale
I went 20+ years without knowing this scale until a couple years ago i saw a Rick Beato video explaining this scale ... it's been one of my go to scales ever since.
Your rhythm stands out above so many others. Along with the way you put things together. ❤️🫡
I spent quite a bit of time transcribing RG soloing over chord changes and discovered this, thank you for clarifying.
Think I’m going to be transcribing that opening jam! So sweet! Thanks John
I can't believe you put this out so soon! Hope Nemo had a good swim and you got dad something proper
Incredible insight. This is helpful beyond words. Thank you.
Beautiful sound on the opening!
Wow, your tune hits the heart strings ! Sounds super solid !
I like more the octatonic scale , or diminished ,AKA Back to the future sound track scale
There is another way - to play a pentatonic (Major or relative minor), plus the same shape from the 5th
*same way to avoid b6 in Aeolian
Hexatonic you play is also a Triad pair - Maj Triad from the 5th + min Triad from the 6th(Relative minor) - that approach gives new,different sound to the scale
"In music and music theory, a hexatonic scale is a scale with six pitches or notes per octave. Famous examples include the whole-tone scale, C D E F♯ G♯ A♯ C; the augmented scale, C D♯ E G A♭ B C; the Prometheus scale, C D E F♯ A B♭ C; and the blues scale, C E♭ F G♭ G B♭ C. A hexatonic scale can also be formed by stacking perfect fifths. This results in a diatonic scale with one note removed (for example, A C D E F G)".
Hexatonic means 6 potential tonics and implies an octave divided into 6 equidistant notes similar to the 4 notes of a full diminished 7th being Quadratonic or the 3 notes of an augmented triad being
'Ambiguously TRITONIC'.
Fantastic lesson. Tks so much for posting
Roy ziv has an actual in depth course on this subject and he is a monster
That’s fine, but I came here because I enjoy John’s vibe, his playing and sound nuances have emotive force, and his instruction is good and helpful. Thanks John!
It occurred to me while playing along with some Allman Brothers songs, that Dickey Betts was avoiding one note in his solos. It was a hunch, but I wasn't absolutely sure that I was correct. It's not that the fourth is exactly wrong, it just subtracts from the overall joyful upbeat feel of certain tunes. Didn't realize that it was an actual thing with a name, but this sheds much light on what I was hearing and trying to capture.
Blue sky?
@@far1es For the most part, but I think he throws in some 4ths on the descending riff at the beginning and end. I'll test it out the next time I have my guitar in hand.
Fantastic lesson, I've never heard of the "avoid note"
I'm gonna try this out.
Thanks John,. More intermediate lessons please. Thanks
Beautiful lead tone!!!
Cours magistral !!
Merci beaucoup !!
Wow J, You even make the scales sound great, keep up the good work John Cordy thanks 🙏
The Triad Pair approach made more sense to me when I saw their combined notes as a Hexatonic scale. Not sure why, but one of my earliest harmonic discovery was the natural IV scale degree over Major harmony - used as a tension/passing tone/appoggiatura - call it what you will. I suppose I'm in the minority, but it still sounds good to me.
Sublime concept here, and great teaching. Had never heard of the "avoid note" before but it all makes sense now.
nice and good explained hexatonic schale and now i understand it clearly
Fantastic. That sounds really lovely and that new age sort of reverb effect was so perfect for it too.
Beautiful and very useful.
That stuff you showed in this video instantly reminds me to Kurt Ronsenwinkel's playing.
Well done!!!
I’m always impressed by your playing! This lesson is very helpful, thanks!
That’s so useful - and will take time to practice. Your channel is so helpful and inspiring. Thanks!
Liked and subscribed as soon as i heard the intro that is some of the best playing ive ever heard what the actual fuck
Love it! Great, useful, lesson - thank you!
This is what I needed
Great lesson. Thanks for the effort putting it together
very good lesson thank you John thank you very much ! have good day ( from Poland )
Amazing playing!
Lovely intro... Smooth and melodious. 👌🏼
Thank you, this is awesome.
Thank John your lessons are really helpful and inspirational
Wow beautiful. U get right to music. Helps. Instead of blah blah 5 minutes. Great
Love this! Very inspired by your guitar playing and lessons
tabs are wrong but it does not matter too much as it's just one Maj7th note to find on the top of the 5 other ones though (in the example a G#), i played that all the time not thinking hexa but thinking penta on maj7th arpeggios, then adding that maj7 is natural
I always think of this as Aeolian or min9 with the 9 and 4 of that scale being the juiciest notes as you point out. Which would be the 1 and 6 of the Dorian min6 scale... and Dorian is the best scale of course :0
Dicky Betts from the Allman Brothers would often play a hexagon scale. But he played a major hexagon scale.
In the key of C he would be playing CDEFGAC skipping the B
I understand that the tritone in the key C is the F to the B. This is the 4 to the 7. And I understand that you don’t want to have that 4 to 7 interval which causes that dissonant clash.
So in major it seems like you don’t play the 7 which gives a very major or country sound.
But if you’re playing a natural minor from the way, I see you are teaching, you do play the B and you don’t play the F.
The B is the 2 or the 9 in the key of “A minor”so I can see how this hexagon scale could sound very smooth because it seems like the nine is always smooth.
I think it’s very interesting. How when you use the major hexatonic scale, in this case C, you remove the B but then you shift to the A minor you keep the B and remove the F note .
If you could comment on that, I’d be very interested
I've never really thought of it as a scale, but I have just gravitated towards it because the 4th degree just sounds so off sometimes. It is also easier for me to think of it as major scale with an avoid note than the pentatonic with an extra note. Not sure why...
That's funny because during our lesson today that was how John describes it too and I struggled. Then he said pentatonic + 1 and lightbuld went off
lovely guitar btw m8
Can’t believe i never heard of this🤘
Great topic and explanation of how you use the hexatonic scale. Thanks! For anyone looking for further resources on playing hexatonic scales (as there are many different types) there's a great book (w/CD) by Jerry Bergonzi. It is from his "Inside Improvisation Series (for all instruments)... Vol.7 Hexatonics. It's very thorough for those who are curious. Published by Advance Music. :0)
Very well explained. Enjoyable to watch as well beyond the details you shared.
Curious what amp/pedal/patch, combination, etc you're running the P90s through? Whatever combination you're using sound's really great with the P90s. Thanks as always.
Phil
NYC Area
Oh man!! So Holdsworthian ❤
Awesome🔥
wowww...beautiful!!!❤
I was rearching this scale for a game project and this was the first video I found that referenced the 'hexatonic' scale. Is this the same as the 'whole tone' scale?
There’s a ripple or wave in the body finish just above the 22nd fret.🤨
Just think of it as the note just right below your root. Its just a half step down from every root note you hit. Easier for me than trying to think of it as another scale pattern.
Question to anyone here? Stumbled on a guitarist out of Toronto Canada who’s teaching hexatonic scales in his course, his name is Roy Ziv. Does anyone use his course?
Can you make a lesson on how to use this scale and how to improvise on
This is funny I was learning some Allman brothers stuff and Dicky Betts used the major pentatonic quite a bit and added the 4th to make a Hexatonic scale then you tell us to throw away the 4 😂. I get it, different situations and styles
In most (not all) contexts, when he plays the 4, the chord under it has probably changed from the I to the IV. The “avoid” note applies only to when playing over a particular chord.
Do you have records? Greet playing man!
this gitaar sounds so good..what is it? ( p90?) i want it..thnxxx
I;m the lazy dude who does what you do without knowing what I'm doing.
Been trying to find explanations for years... yours works very well.
Why does this scale work so well for solos
I will give this a go. Btw what you think of that revstar with p90s. I need to try one as I always thought look great and p90s is win win
For some valid reasons I can’t join patrions to get access to this addictive packing track ..
Please if there’s another way..
What backing track is this?
N I C E !!!!
Onde encontro IR seu do Ac 30 ??
Can you tell me how you got this tone 😅 are you using an overdrive?
can someone tell me what pedal/pad and preset he's using? sounds heavenly
What sort of reverb are you using?
It creates such a full sound, even when you are only playing single notes, without ever being overpowering.
Sounds amazing!
lol i love how he was like not today phrygian
Which programm are you using to generate the chord humming in the background
Are those P90s? Sounds really good!!!!! Also, thanks for the tutorial
Which patch was that used during the intro to this video? I'm on the Helix floor unit. I bought the 2.9 folder back in late 2020.
In other words, which bundle do I order to get what was used during the intro of this video?
Great 👍
scott goram-emerald!!!
John I want to use this hexatonic concept in my bass playing is there anything different I may need to know
As a bassist I can tell you it works and very well. It definitely has its places for bass whether just running lines during verses and bridges or soloing. Just work out the positioning because some guitarists do use it in open tunings. The beauty of doing this is that you can experiment and open up many variations of Hexatonic.
Listen to Gary Moore on Thin Lizzy song SARAH
AMAZING
The harmonic context dictates what note will clash or not, this scale will sound almost right on any major chord, but instead of removing the 4th try to raise it by one half tone and you get lydian mode which sounds great on a IV Maj7 chord. When one knows the modes and is able to anaylse a chord progression there is no need to use this kind of shortcut which in the end is more musically limiting than anything. I thought you were about to talk about the tone scale.
Yeh. And until you "know the modes" perhaps you'd use this kind of thing in your improvisation. The whole point is people ask me what I'm thinking. This is what I'm thinking.
Incidentally I get asked this stuff by people who know their theory and scales. When it comes to improvising, tons of theory, tons of analysis and having loads of options working through your head is just as "limiting".
Also when it comes to the majority of music that isn't fusion guitar on TH-cam, Modal analysis doesn't really make any sense. Particularly in a progression like this which is entirely diatonic.
For many beginners, a lot of the joy in playing guitar comes from easy visualisable patterns (pentatonic, power chords, familiar open chords) that works really well with some style of music, but this is also the reason why a lot of guitarist get quickly to a plateau where progressing is getting harder and opening to other styles of music could be discouraging because they are limited in their vocabulary and harmony knowledge. It's great that you are able to reach a lot of guitarists and help them to break some barriers. It seems that you are doing more and more gear reviews. I prefer more the musical oriented content. The gear-hunting "game" can really kill or distract a lot from the creative part of what is playing guitar.
@@elyum jesus you are annoying 🥲
I hear Alan Murphy
wow
That Yamaha guitar sounds good and no doubt it plays well but I can't come at the look of it. It reminds me of Japanese styled cars in the 60's. (Sorry if I called your new girlfriend ugly).
I too hate 4s
Suburb tone 😊 hint?
With the Hexatonic scale, do you really have to know what the chord is as you solo in order to target the right note? Let's say you are 2/3 of the way into your improv and you lost track of what the chord is currently playing while you solo, can the hexatonic scale save you and help you to land on the correct note and not an "avoid note"? I know that if you happen to land on an avoid note, you can simply move 1 note down or up to land on the right note. I am wondering if the hexatonic scale can help you out while you solo without knowing what chord is currently playing underneath.
If you hit the avoid note (the 4th) and go up a semitone you hit b5 /tritone, which is an even bigger avoid note as it's not in the diatonic scale that the hexatonic is derived from. I prefer sticking (mainly) to the hexscale of the overall key rather than changing its key with each chord. As for your question - it certainly helps to know the notes of each chord or at least visualise the shape of whatever chord you're playing over & avoid lingering or landing on its 4th. The
caged system is an easy way of seeing all the inversions of a certain chord up & down the neck. The extent to which you 'spell' / arpeggiate each chord (play the changes) as opposed to milking the penta or hex scale of the key center depends on the genre and is a matter of personal taste & expression. The former approach lends itself to the formal & sophisticated, the latter to freedom & spontaneity. Theory does not dictate what sounds cool - it's just a language to help decipher and describe what's happening (and, paradoxically, which notes to avoid! ; )
WTF is WTF? Hexatonic sounds like a witch’s brew?
Exactly. Extra gin or sumat